Hen&#39;s nest.



I. C. WILKES.

HBNS NEST.

APPLICATION nun) MAY 25, 1909 Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

ma 9196 lm mu:

, of Ohio,

characters so si a 0on8; of align referred construction and.

M ass I IENS NEST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Application filed May 25, 1909. Serial No. 498,194.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. WILKES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Athens, in the county of Athens and State have invented new and useful Improvementsin Hens Nests, of which the following is a specification.

lhis invention relates to hens nests and traps.

The object of the invention is to produce, in a novel manner, a poultry nest and trap so simple in construction and operation as to be easily and successfully manufactured by oultry-keepers at home,

dhrable chea and eliicient as to be sired by all poul ry-lreepers, andwhich shall provide complete protection to a laying or setting hen from the attacks of rats, or otheranimals, and also from the intrusion 0, of othen hens that may desire to lay or set,

with her.

With the above and other objects in view,

, aswill appear as the nature of the invention j is/bettertv understood, the same consists .in. 25] the novel construction and combination. of

, pants of a hensnest, as will be hereinafter lly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing formin a part of this specification, and in which 1kc of reference indicate correspond- Fig'ure 1 is a view in side elevation with a part of the casing broken away to. display the interior mechanism. Fig. 2 is ,a ,Vertical longitudinal sectional view.

ing parts,

5 Fig. 3 is an end view looking in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2. ig. 4 is a per spective detail view ofthe latch.

, The nest embodies in its construction a box or casing, which may be constructed of anysuitable material, and'which comprises" 3, and an" a top wall 1', two side walls 2 and end wall 4. Disposed withinthe box is a base-board 5 which constitutes the bottom of the boxand on the rear portion of which is mountcdthe nest fl, which may be formed by nailing pieces of board tothe member 5, or by disp'osifg thereon a box. The board his prjo- ,vig with an upstandin cleat 7 that is ded to engage with t e lowerpqrtionof caasenri ,rhatio f the same, when the eerie "saris" f b h cflT e board 5 e tend, and the; rots or bearings dithe hi must pl'acedjar enough from the e gas of easing to'allow the door to Weasels, 'maybe covered by may be constructed, as shown in the prsent instance, of a plurality of vertical slats 9, a to cross-piece 10 of less length than the width of the box, and a bottom cross-piece 11 of substantially the same length as the distance between the two side walls of the box, with which it is pivotally connected b3 pins hinges or pintles 12. The'downwar movement of the front end of the board 6 is limited by a cross-piece 13.,land the inward movement oithe doofby a cleat 14 secured to the under side of the top wall. If preferred,

the door could be allowed to contact with the casing and thus dispense with the cleat.

In order to ventilate the casing, its rear wall is provided with an opening 15 which a wire netting 16, and if the door 8 be slatted, it will be seen that the hen will be housed in a comiortable manner, even in extremely warm weather. Of course it will be understood that the casing could be a slatted structure throughout, or of wire fabric.

Oneof the essential features of the inven tion resides in constructing 'the nest in such manner that it may be adjustable to the weight of the hen and the eg s so that under all conditions, when occupie it will tilt to the position shown in Fig. 2, and thus hold the door 8 in closed position. To accomplish this resulteach of the side walls of the nest, adjacent to its lower forward end, is rovided with a series of openings 17 which are designedlo re ister with like openings 18 in the side we ls of the casing a jaeent to their lower edges, and these openin s are engaged by p1ns;19 thus to hold the base-board pivotallyilsupported. These pins are arranged to be dasi drawn thus to permit the nest to hp. removed for the purpose of cleaning. {:6 preferred the openings could be formed in the baseboard and secure the same function. The

attendant by observation can see, whether the hen and the setting of eg- A l it the nest downwar ;v

y withrest upon the cleat 7, and thus afford a perch for the hen.

The box may be either placed upon the round, a floor, orit may be suspended upon a ence or buildin or other support to secure which result eit ier of the side walls may be provided with openings 20 which will engapael hooks or nails drlven in the support.

14211 a trap-nest is desired, a latch L (see Fig. 4.) or other device is secured to the top of the casing 1, allowing the notch 21 to project far enough in front of the cas ing to engage the top of the door 8 when shut, and thus hold it shut until opened by the attendant. The latch is best fastened to the top Wall 1 by means of a hole 22 which engages a nail 31, less in diameter than the .1019, allowing the head 32 of the nail to reject somewhat above the latch, thus alowing the front end of the latch to be swung to one side of the casing when a'trapnest is not desired.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that although the improvements herein described are simple in character, that they will be thoroughly eflicient for the purposes 1 designed, and will co-act in the production of a thorou hly practical and durable arti cle for the 0%ject for which it is constructed.

I claim i In a device of the character described, a casing, a foot board pivotal] sup )orted therein and having an upstan ing ceat at 1 its front end, a nest supported upon the foot board in rear of the plvot, a door supported l pirotally between the sides of the casing in 1 rear of the front end of the foot board and 1 adapted to be engaged and actuated by the l cleat upon the foot board, a latch ada ted for engagement with the upper edge 0 the door, and a headed fastening member loosely extending through an aperture in the latch thereby permitting the latter to be supported on top of the casing when moved to one side out of engagement with the door.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH C. WILKES.

Witnesses:

R. L. \VooDwoR'rn, H. C. Bonn.

Iitl 

